The Publishers Challenge!

On the last hub I did on this subject, iUniverse was claiming to be Numeral Uno. Now I found another Self-Publisher Company, AuthorHouse that says they have the top honours! Okay, so what I purpose is to take the best “Publishing Package” from iUiverse and AuthorHouse and compare them tit for tat! There merits will be judged on there different aspects of what they offer, Price, Marketing and book layout, including the book cover. Then from that, seed of inspiration sprang a new concept for my series, The Publisher Challenge! Each week I will take two Independent Publishing Companies and have them compare those same three items.

So off I go, sending my “invitations” to iUiverse and AuthorHouse, telling them, so to speak, to “chose there weapons.” It is about a half an hour later I get an email back from iUniverse and here is what Miss Erin Sullivan had to say on the subject. ”Thank you for the warm, friendly invitation, but I feel I need to explain a few things.

First off, AuthorHouse is our sister company. We are all under the umbrella/mother company of Author Solutions. AuthorHouse has been in Bloomington much longer than iUniverse. IUniverse first started out as its own separate company in Lincoln, Nebraska for many years. A little over a year ago, Author Solutions bought iUniverse, and we are now located in Bloomington as well.” Sisters, who would have known?

Miss Sullivan went on to tell me that the two companies are “like peaches and pears.” They had similarities and yet did business differently. I could just hear the Sibling rivalry while the two sisters are sitting under the “umbrella” with “Mother.” “Your company may have come first, but you only do children books and my company is based off of a Traditional Publishing model!” Says iUniverse in a huff why sticking out her tongue at her older half sister.

THEN, Erin suggests that I purchase both packages and compare them myself! Well, you have a better chance of seeing a Gopher fly a Helicopter! What ever happened to the good old American “test drive” concept? Do Car & Driver BUY a BMW or a “Jag” just so they can do article on them? I think not!

Checking out the AuthorHouse Web Site I discover that they have several package deals. The first is the one that I would most likely chose, for two reasons, the price and the freedom it allows me. This one is priced $599.00 and is called the Foundation package. Here is what you will receive with the Foundation package:

¨ One –on- one Author support. AuthorHouse has one of there Consultant work with the Author overall process.

¨ Custom full colour cover

¨ Custom full colour interior

¨ ISBN Assignment

¨ Electronic Proof

¨ Online distribution

¨ Professional Marketing

¨ Book-store availability

¨ Complimentary Author Copy

¨ eBook

Sniffing around the web sit a bit, I came to the conclusion that they devote a lot of effort in helping a Author market there book depending on there personal needs.

Back in that dimension, know as iUniverse I discover a similar publishing package called Select if you buy this package online they will charge you $599.00 however, if you receive this product by “Snail Mail” it will cost one hundred dollars more. I do not know why, mailing the product would be that much more money. Maybe they prefer to do business on line. Anyway, this is what you get with the Select package

¨ Trade paper back binding

¨ Book Design and page layout

¨ eBook formatting

¨ One-one-one Author support

¨ Custom cover design

¨ ISBN Assignment

¨ Volume discounting for Authors

¨ One Round of Author Proof Corrections

¨ Five Free paperback copies

¨ Twenty-five black and White insertions

¨ Distribution whole salers

¨ World wide distribution though Barnes & Nobles.com Amazon.com and “other” online retailers

¨ Web Page in the iUniverse online book store

The two lists are quite similar, but do not forget we are talking about sisters here! I did notice that iUniverse did not mention anything about marketing consultant, even though they include a web page in the iUniverse online book-store and distribution though Barnes & Nobles and Amazon Web Site.

Both web sites for AuthorHouse and iUniverse are very informative and well done. I believe they use the same Web Master, which makes since considering they both hangout under "Authors Solutions umbrella"!

So which company is a peach and which one is a Pear? After a trip to the grocery store, I found out that peaches are more expensive than pears. That would me iUniverse is the peach, but keep in mind, they do not publish the same way there sister company publishes.

In closing, I think it is import for me to state why I am doing this in the first place. I do this for several reasons. The most important, is that I have gotten fed up with all the scams I found on the Internet and the massive amount of information that one has to sort out to get to the bottom line about using online Self- Publishing services. I feel If, I “invite” these different companies to a competition; I may be able weed out any of the “questionable” services available on the Internet.

I want to help at least in a small way, anyone who is searching for Self-Publishing or Print on Demand possibilities, and in this way help myself in finding what options I want to pursue when I get a manuscript finished.

So far I believe all the different companies I have check out seem upstanding in there business practices. All kidding aside I do give two gigantic “thumbs up” to both iUniverse and AuthorHouse. All the books I have seen pictures of on both of the sites look very appealing and professional looking. If I would chose between the two I would go with AuthorHouse. That is just were I would lean towards at this time.

This has so far been very educational endeavour and I am having a lot of fun doing it. See you next time with two more dulling “Indi” publishers!